Thursday, April 9, 2015

Update: Gay Adoption In Florida

The Florida Senate blocked efforts to allow Indiana-style discrimination in adoption late Wednesday afternoon. In doing so they derailed an effort that originated in the House of Representatives to reintroduce an anti gay adoption law in Florida. Former Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Destin an opponent to the homophobic legislation stated, “We don’t need to turn back the social clock in this state to 1977” which was the year Florida banned gay & lesbian people from adopting children.
Nadine Smith, CEO of Equality Florida stated, “We applaud Senator Gaetz for rallying his colleagues to stop this disastrous effort to put discrimination back into Florida law. Now is not the time for Florida to look back to its ugly past. It is time to secure full equality & chart a fair & inclusive path for our state.” The Florida Senate action came just minutes after the Florida House voted overwhelmingly to allow taxpayer-funded private adoption agencies to turn away gay people & others. While the House bill was clearly aimed at discriminating against gay & lesbian people, the fiery debate spotlighted bill sponsor Rep. Jason Brodeur’s unwillingness to deny that agencies might be able to discriminate based on race, religion or other factors as well. This Senate adoption bill, which has already passed the House of Representatives would also eliminate Florida’s 1977 anti gay adoption statute which has remained on the books despite being unenforceable since it was declared unconstitutional in 2010. The bill has one more reading in the Senate; if passed as expected it will be sent to the Governor. Updates to Come…:)
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